SuperSquad: Baseball's Superstars

Comic book fans come in two types: those who loudly proclaim how comics are an art form, and mention names like Alan Moore and Art Spiegelman. And then there are the people who grew up reading comics, and who like anything with colorful panels and some punching. I fit mostly in the second category, and will just read about anything in four colors. In fact, I have somewhat of a hobby of finding the most ridiculous comic I can find.

One of the titles in the running for that is "SuperSquad: Baseball's Superstars", subtitled "Saving the Planet...One Inning at a Time". The premise, such as it is, is that groups of baseball All-Stars band together, using super powered baseball equipment to defeat various menaces. Ever want to see Barry Bonds in mystic combat with a snake demon? Ever want to see A-Rod bat meteors away with a high tech bat? Does the dramatic effect of having baseball players realize that as the essence of their sport is teamwork, the only way that they can fight abovementioned snake demon is to join their willpower in mystic harmony seem to be a meaningful, dramatic plot point? The answer is, of course, probably "no", but someone might be interested in this book out of the "so bad its good" motivation. Unfortunately, the book fails even at that, because while it is ridiculous, it is not ridiculous enough to be over-the-top amusing. In fact, I think that the creators were well aware of how silly the whole thing was, and so approached it very tongue in cheek.

This issue was endorsed by Major League Baseball and the player's association. I don't know which way the money flowed in the licensing deal, whether it was put together as a PR device by the player's association, or whether the publisher, the otherwise unknown Triumph Books, thought that they could write a best selling comic book by licensing the images of major league players. Whichever it was, both parties seem to have cheated each other. This comic is interesting for those with an interest in either comic book or baseball ephemera, or just ridiculousness in general, but is otherwise not something I would recommend.